The Scarlet Stutterer
by dontstudywritenovels
Summary: "A mess of letters leaving his lips before he could even stop himself. A stutter, and a bad one at that." Wally has a stutter, he hid it with his speed, but when he temporarily loses his power he can't hide it anymore. Basically how the team finds out and reacts. Fluff. Wally Whumpish. Not explicitly sad in any way. May continue is wanted.


Years of teasing and speech class that would never help, he was sure now that nothing would. The genius, the science geek, the stuttering mess. Red hair, bright green eyes, and a twisting tongue. Jumbled sounds and a disarray of words. He never had the time to perfect the language before he spoke. A mess of letters leaving his lips before he could even stop himself. A stutter, and a bad one at that.

But, God, then **it** happened. He became a speedster, and he could study, perfect, even relearn each word a thousand times before it even left his lips. And, _no one,_ but Barry or Superman could see the way he would calculate each word before speaking. It was amazing, no more teasing-at least about the stuttering- and he was finally free.

But, then it happened. One of the rogues got there hands on something that stripped the team of their powers for at least a month. A whole month. Wally couldn't hide a his, erm, 'problem' for a month.

* * *

"I feel kinda weird without magic, like there's an unfillable void," Zatanna spoke.

"I still don't understand why Baywatch isn't here," Artemis voiced, annoyance dripping from her tone.

"He's coming, he knows Batman wanted everyone for the debriefing," Robin said. The debriefing was for a mission prior to the power loss, and each would have to take turns explaining the events. No one, but Flash and maybe Superman knew about the stutter, so when Wally walked into the meeting, late I may add, everyone blamed it on the lack of extra speed.

Artemis couldn't hide her laugh at the sight, "Well, hello four eyes." Did I forget to mention the glasses? Speedsters didn't need glasses, their eyes were perfect. Perfect! But, here he was; red hair a mess, a flash hoodie, and his nerdy glasses-because he wasn't a speedster at the moment, was he? Wally didn't dare respond to the teases.

Robin was first to admit his mistakes and explain his experience of the mission, followed by Kauldar and then Megan. Wally was to go next. His entire form was shaking, but he could pass as twitching, maybe pass it as a sign that his powers were beginning to return. The shift in speeds did cause a twitch or a fidgeting habit, one he had broke _long_ ago.

"Kid Flash," Batman said _again,_ this time catching the speedless speedster's attention, "Your report." Wally took a shaky breath before he started, a lame attempt to prepare himself.

"I...had...the...job...of-"

"Faster," Batman growled, Gotham's knight clearly didn't have time for antics. The speedless speedster didn't know what to do. The team's eyes were glued to him, since when did _Wally_ go slow?

"I..had..the..job..of-" He was going maybe a little faster, but not fast enough as it seems.

"Kid Flash," Batman interrupted again, "You're wasting my time." The monotone scold shook the redhead at his core.

"I-I h-had t-t-the j-job o-o-of w-w-wa-watching t-the p-p-perimeter," Wally's face was red, his eyes were screwed shut, it was that or let everyone watch him cry. God he _hated_ this. Why couldn't he just talk? "I-I-I o-o-only c-c-ca-came i-i-in l-l-later w-w-wh-when t-t-th-the j-j-job w-wa-was m-m-mos-mostly f-f-fin-fini-finished." When he opened his eyes they were swelled with tears, his vision blurry. He wiped them with his sleeve and willed them away.

"Cat got your tongue?" Artemis laughed, but Wally was quick to forgive her, she didn't, she _couldn't_ have known.

"Wally? Is the speed loss affecting you that badly, man?" That was Robin.

"I-I-I've-ve a-a-al-always h-had a-a s-s-st-stutter," Wally's eyes were on the floor, "T-t-the t-t-ti-time t-t-the s-s-sp-speed g-g-gave m-m-me h-he-he-helped." He was biting his lip, the tears threatening to spill once again.

"Wally, I'm, shit, Baywatch, I didn't-"

"I-It's f-f-fi-fine." Wally looked up at the hand that suddenly touched his shoulder affirmingly.

"Sorry I was late, kid, you did well, though."

"T-t-thanks, U-u-un-uncle B." The Flash gave him a smile and Wally smiled back, he didn't even notice he had stopped crying. Just that he felt... _better._ That for once he wasn't practicing his words over and over before he actually spoke, he felt more at ease. That having a stutter didn't define him or who he was. He was Wally West, the stuttering speedster, and that was perfectly fine.


End file.
